One place, a thousand flavours

Octavia Tsibes
Mahedago Xoagus

On the 26th of February 2019 eleven learners from Windhoek Gymnasium were invited by the school’s chef club to have a taste of some of the mouthwatering Kapana at Single Quarters in Katutura. The teachers who accompanied them, were

Suzette Lotter, Gisela Peters and Charl Maclachlan.

The road was long and their stomachs were growling but as soon as the meat on the grill came to sight, the mood changed drastically. The group was lead by Sanet Van Wyk-Prinsloo who is a chef, as well as an international judge of chefs. Our learners were privileged enough to be shown a variety of items sold by local women, ranging from hand-crafted baskets to herbal spices to Mopani worms. Once the culture tour ended these eleven learners scattered around the place. “I have not had kapana in five years and clearly I have been missing out!” Joyce Iyambo exclaimed.

These learners stood in the front row waiting for the men to serve them slices of their tender meat. They dipped their meat into the two different seasonings: salt and mild spice and devoured it within seconds. Moving deeper into the area, fresh onions and tomatoes were swiftly chopped by skillful hands and dished onto the plates of keen learners. The teachers were seated on nearby benches and bought soft, scrumptious fat cakes and had a feast of their own.

“The tenderness, the spice and all these different flavors have me hooked”, Azaiah Soabes stated, while dipping her meat in mild spice. From the tantalizing meat, to the flavorsome salsa and the lush fat cakes, this event was truly an experience to remember, especially for the minority of learners and teachers who had never had Kapana before. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. The learners made their final rounds to buy more meat, salsa, fat cakes and some drinks for the road. They dipped their meat in spice one last time before having it packaged for take-away.

After waving goodbye to the friendly faces they encountered, they were back on the road. A few meters later and they began to feast on their take-away. Van Wyk-Prinsloo asked “wanted to know how the learners experienced their time at Single Quarters. “It was amazing!” the learners chanted. Finally, they reached the school. The learners thanked the teachers for making them part of such an astonishing experience and then went their separate ways. This may have been Windhoek Gymnasium’s first stop at this culture experience, but definitely not their last!